Celebrate Earth Day with Healthy Communities Fest

Have you ever wanted to know more about our local environment, being more active and healthy, or organic gardening? Then you should check out the Healthy Communities Festival, a family-friendly event that celebrates Earth Day!

At this green-themed event, taking place on Saturday, in Cascades Park, you can visit over 55 exhibitors ranging from Whole Foods Market to Capital City Cyclists. Each booth will focus on sharing sustainability practices that help create a healthy environment, healthy economy and health people. Hosted by the City of Tallahassee, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Leon County, the festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will also feature a fun run and walk, live entertainment, interactive educational demonstrations, and food vendors.

All the green-themed fun begins at 8:30 a.m. with a 3K family fun run/walk sponsored by Whole Child Leon. Participants will be able to enjoy the beauty of Cascades Park as they run and walk around the park’s fitness trails. To register, please follow this link, and plan to arrive around 8 a.m. Donations of $10 are recommended for adult participants and $5 for those under 12 years old. All proceeds benefit the South City Multi-Sport Club, a program that encourages fitness and exercise through the sport of triathlon. If participation isn't possible, donations separate from registration are also accepted at the link above.

At 9 a.m., Move.Tallahassee will lead a walk around the outer loop of Cascades Park. Registration for the walk isn’t required.

After the run and walk, you can visit the exhibitor booths spread around the park. The exhibits will feature educational demonstrations and interactive, hands-on activities. Among other things, you will be able to learn about composting, build water bottle rockets, see live marine animals and even practice fishing!

There will also be a bike rodeo, sponsored by Capital City Cyclists, where kids can learn the ins and outs of safely riding a bicycle. To further delight the little ones, Smokey Bear and Sparky the Fire Dog will appear on the Prime Meridian Plaza from 10 a.m. to noon.

To keep the energy moving throughout the day, live groups will entertain festival-goers all day. Some of the acts taking the stage in Centennial Field are the Young Actors Theater, Raa Middle School jazz band, reggae group Positive Vibration Redeemed and the Trashtronauts, a musical group that plays instruments made from discarded and repurposed items. At noon, organizers will take a community photo to commemorate the event.

The goal of the Healthy Communities Festival is to share sustainability information and practices, and celebrate what makes our community healthy – Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy, Healthy People! Follow the fun on social media using #HCFTally.

The Healthy Communities Festival is free and open to the public, and will occur rain or shine. Event sponsors include Commuter Services of North Florida and the Tallahassee Democrat.

Parking is available in the Department of Transportation lots on Suwannee Street, and in the surrounding state building garages. If a person with a disability requires accommodation to participate or if special seating arrangements are needed, requests should be made to the event coordinator 72 hours prior to the event by calling 891-2476.

Koren Taylor is the Environmental Programs Coordinator for Environmental Policy and Energy Resources, City of Tallahassee. Contact her at koren.taylor@talgov.com. The City of Tallahassee is a member of the Capital Area Sustainability Council, which brings you “Greening Our Community” articles. Learn more at www.SustainableTallahassee.org/CASC.

EARTH DAY POSTER CONTEST

On Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 4 Points Sheraton, 316 West Tennessee, in the lobby, Keep Tallahassee-Leon County Beautiful along with Lamar Advertising and 4 Points Sheraton are joining together to announce the winners of the Earth Day Art Poster Contest in the Leon County elementary schools.

Prizes will be given to the top three entrants for each grade K-2 and 3-5 age groups. In addition, the ‘People’s Top Choice’ poster will be put on a billboard and on KTLCB’s website and Facebook page. The winning school will be given a Library Edition of the “Giving Tree.”

“Partnerships such as this are key to promoting our efforts to educate students of the Tallahassee community for future generations,” said Diana Hanson, Executive Director of Keep Tallahassee-Leon County Beautiful. “With these programs, we hope to not only encourage our future citizens to take care of the environment whether it be recycling, disposing of trash responsibly or beautifying their surroundings.